Concrete-form tie and spacer



Juny i6, 1929. D Bq sMlTH 1,720,697

CONCRETEFORM TIE AND SPACER i Filed NOV. 21, 1927 J a l@ Z//Dv War/rei?,

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Patented July 16, 1929.

UNITED stares DAVID' lBAKER SMITH, OF LQS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

CONCRETE-FORM TIE AND SPACER.

Application filed November 21, 1927. Serial No. 234,586.

This invention has to do with tie and spacing devices for concrete-forms and the like, and it may be `stated 'as the gene al ob]ect of the invention to provide a `form or forms of tie, and tie or spacer, that are simple in structure, economical to manufacture, easily applied, and present minimum obstruction to the pouring of concrete when in operative position.

lVhile the particular' embodiments hereinafter shown and described are particularly suited to the holding of .forms for poured concrete, it -Will be understood that the invention is not limited toV this particular use. Howevenit will lead to a better understanding of the invention to describe it in connection with such a particular use, whereupon -it will be obvious to those skilled in the arthow it may be put to different uses with equal advantage.

lForm elements may, of course, be made in various sizes and shapes and of any suitable material, and though, for the sake of simplicity, I will hereinafter refer to these elements as boards?, I do not thereby limit my invention nor my claims to use only in connection with form elements in the nat-ure of boards.'

The present invention is shown embodied in a tie having cert-ain of the general characteristics of the device shown in Patent No. 1.564,982, issued to me December 8, 1925, on concrete form tie and spacer, and all the general advantages of-that type of device over those going before Aare also true of the embodiment here shown. Since these advantages are more or less fully set up in said patent, it willbe unnecessary to repeat them here. However, it will be distinctly' understood that thepresent invention is vnot limited in application to the particular t-ype of tie and spacer shown in the aforesaid patent, the reference to that type being merely for illustrative purposes and not being restrictive onmy broader claims.

The advance in the art heremade may be considered as' involving several features,` and While certain of these may be discussed to bet-ter advantage in the following detailed description, I will here outline some of the more outstanding.

T he 'device embodies avsingle rod that extends across a form, the rod carrying near its opposite ends board engaging head formaiens In a great many cases this rod may function onlyv as a tie. rod, and l. lthtaefore refer to it as a tension member or tension rod, but at the same time it is in practice made heavy and stift' enough to take the compression necessary to hold the form boards apart if there is any tendency for the opposite walls or form boards to move toward each other. Consequently, the device is, or 'is capable of functioning both as a tie and spacer. and While in the majority of cases it functions only or substantially only as a tie and therefore is hereinafter called a tension member, it will be understood that this terminology is not intended to limit the invention to embodiments where it only functions as a tension member.

The board engaging head formations' at or near the ends of the rod each embody upright members which extend at substantially right angles to the rod, defining between them a boaril-taking channel, the bottom of this channel being dclined by that portion of the rod which extends between the members. Now for reasons well known to those skilled in the art1 it is highly desirable that the tie be capable of such application to the form boards, that it may not be accidentally displaced. and conversely that the tie hold the boards fairly rigidly against movement to and from each other prior to the pouring of the concrete. In other words, it is desirable that the boards lit relatively snugly Within the channel, though this snugness of lit should not interfere with the easy application of the ties. Furthermore, since the form boards naturally vary in thickness, and it is highly desirable that a given standard tie be adapt ed to handle boards irrespective of their thickness, Within reasonable limits, it will be seen that to fulfill these conditions the board engaging head formations must be adjustable, and preferably they are self-adjustable.

To accomplish this, I make at least one of the upright members somewhat resilient, so, at a point spaced from the rod, said one member is resiliently movable toward and away from-the other, and I provide offset formations or extensions on said one member which extend toward the other member to define the mouths of the board-taking channels, the normal Width of the mouths being such that they nicely take boards of minimum thickness. .Preferably also, the extensions are such that .they give Aaring characteristics to the chan- 'underlying board or to slip a beard into an upwardlyfopening mouth. f i -T-hus, the formations. may also? be cnsideredas elements adapted to guide the edges of form boards into the board-taking chamlie'ls. A, I

lVhere boards'of' greater thanmininnun' thickness are used, it will .beseen that. the resiliency of the one uprightiinember allows movement thereof awayfrmnthc other mem-fl be thinner that-thc body ofy the rod, though preferablyitis' of at least. equal cross-section arearso there is' noappreciable loss of strength. y rDhcreby the abutting' edges ovffthe boardsi are!bronghtfclosely together to .pre-T A, vent a ppreciable=lcalage oficoncrete, andlyet the rod is of suliieientcross-sectionv area thronghouti-ts length to give a tie having'requisiteistrei'igth.il r v=' 'il 1 1 l l y 1 "llhef above-may 'be accomplished` by' utilizing?r a round tie rod, ai portion of which is flattened by-a pressing operation, said flattened 'por-tiondieing,l thinner 'and wider than the body'portion'of the rod and lying' between the upright members of a. given head-formation.- This iiattened portion has a further function in that it engagesthe abuttingY edges of the form boardsina manner to prevent rotation of the tie.

Now-in the flatteningY process it is practically impossible to form a square'shoulder between the round and ilatwi'iortions of the rod and, since the upright members are affixed to the round port-ion of the rod adjacent the tlat, were `the members to extend straight from their point ofrod attach-ment, and were these n'ien'lbers'to engaged-he sidesofthe board as descril'ie-d above, it will seen that the board corners would engage 1Ethat` portieri lof the rod'whe'rethe flat ism'erging'into the-round. The centers of the' abutting edges ofthe boards would then be spacedsomewhat from thetatsinstead of having' fullbearing thereon, and consequently the space between the edges abuttinglf fornlboards would be somewhatgreater than the thickness of the fiat and'tliere' would begreater chance of concrete leakaee. 'l-lo\\'ever, by ext-ending the-alorei'nentioneiilextensions' on the up- 'rightjinembers toward one another such a dist-ance that they over-'he the flat at points 4the board and the uprights-at their point'l of attaehmenbatO-gthq rodi v 'Jl-hel formations or extensions..- on theJ resilientl upright or up- .,rights extend towards the other upright such a` distance that the/y overige hvthe flat throughout the1 extent of theirL resilient movement,

andhence., v theabove conditions obtain irrespective of the'thickness of the board, within reasonable limits-1 f- By virtue of these board bearing faces on the innenupright', that is, bear-ingfaces which are offset witlrrespeetltotheir carrying member-:toward the other member and also with respect tofthezrodpthere need' be only three points ofthe tie exposed at the outer surface of the finished Wallafter saidties'have been sheared'in the .usual manner subsequent to the strippingeof the forms; and-.these points may be of such small area they are practically unnotice'able in theffinished wall. This point, however, `may be. brought out` to better advantagey in the followingidetailed (leserliption, reference being-hadito the accompanying. drawingjfs,v inwhiehci l, I :Fiet- 1 illustratesialdevice embodying. my invent-icm and applied, fon illustrativepurposes, toy formoboards-,of various thickness;

Fig; 2?is'zufragmentary.plan ivie'w of one of the board'engaging head-formations'shown in Fig. 1, the form boardbeingon'iittedg-and Figc 3 isa view-similar.teiligev1: butfshowin a' vvariational: :type: of board' engaging head formation-2 w- 1 .Y f

-At 101 is designatedi ai tension rod', preferably of circular cross-section throughout its major or bodyportion, haring at each end a board engaging formationgeneral-ly designated at l1. Since these formations may be identical, I Willfl describe but one'in detail. A `given headformaton11 may be considered as including two uprights 12 and 13 that cross rodv 10 atl substantially right angles` beingl attachedl theretofapproximately midway of their lengthI by welding, soldering' or any other suitable Vexpedient At each side of rod 10 these-members 12, 13 may be'considered as'defining the sides of a board-taking channel 14a; the bottomzofl the two channels being defined by thateominonportion` 15 of rod 10 Whieh'lies fbet'ween' the upright members. Preferably, either orboth members 12 and 13 have near their freeor outer ends the formations 16 and 1G,respecti\*ely, which `give Haring characteristics to the mouths 17A of channels 14, it following that the forni boards, here'indicated atA 'B and B', maj.' be readily guidedinto the channels It will be 'seen that formations 16 and 16a may be considered as substantially opposed transverse extensionswhiclrare offset from the bod')I portions ,18 of each member towards the other member,` and thus provide board bearing 'faces19-and 20 which are offset both from rod 10 and from the-points of attachment of said rod with a given upright member towards the other member.

lill) Preferably, though not necessarily, m'ember 12 is of atleast the same diameteras rod 10, so as to be relatively-1rigid,.,though :in some situations .itis advantageousto haveit slightly resilient, and member=13 `is 'of smaller diameter or else is fashioned of such material that it has relatively resilient qualities, that is, parts spaeedfrom its point of rod attachment are capable of resilient movement toward and away= from the other upright. On the otherhand member 12 may lbe considered as a relatively rigidstop 'mem'- en 2., v .z As a' convenient? formation for. givingtlie otl'set bearing faces, Ibend members 12 and 13 inwardly as at 21 and 22, respectively, the end of bent terminal 23 providing the bear# ing face 20. The resiliency ofmember 13 may either be `in bend 22er in-'itsbody portion 18, it merely beingnecessary-that the member is capable'of such resilient movement that bearing face-20 is movable toward and away from the member-*12. Theproportions of the elements are such that thenormal opening of a given mouth 17 ,f as determined by bearing faces v19 and 20, take nicely boards of minimum thickness, that is,fboards of -the least thickness .adapted to be-taken by a given standard tie. Consequently, when the boards are applied to the tie or `the tie applied to the boards,- vthey are frictionallyheld? against relative displacementunder' lus'uai'l jars Aor displacing strains,the advantage lof this feature during the erection `fof the yforni being well known to those skilledin the art. lVhile end 2() has been specified as aV board bearing face, it may, of course, due toits nature, pre sont a somewhat sharp arcuate edge which gives a grip on the form board to aid in hold'- ing the tie against displacement movement, though this is not essential as will be made apparent in the description of a variational type of tie.

Where boards of greater than minimum thickness are used, the resiliency' of member 13 allows a given mouth 17 to open to accommodate them. As noted above,the resiliency may be such that terminal 23 bends inwardly at 2:2, as shown in full lines -at'the right of Fig. 1, while the body portionv 18 of the member remains substantiallyerect, or 'the give may be in the body lportion of the member, as indicated by dotted lines at the 'right of Fig. 1.

Now it is preferable that' the portion '15 of the rod which extends between abutting' edges a, of adjacent-forni boards B, B, bethinner than the body portion of rod 10, so said abutting edges maybe 'brought into close proximity.. Preferably, this thinning is accomplished by a pressing operation so said por-v tion 15 is flattened and widened aswell 'as thinned, though the cross section area of the fiat, Wide portion is substantially equal to that of the body portion'of therod.. This Hattening of the rod is also advantageous in that its bearing with the edges of the form boards preventsrotation of the device with respect tothe boards.

"Preferably, a given flat 15 extends inter* mediate theends of therod, thatis, each Hat is terminated at both 4ends by a portion of the rod which is of fullveircular cross section, this being adesirable condition in order that attachment of members 12, 13 may be' made to the rod at points of full-round cross-section. rl`hus,a given member '13 is secured to the body portion of the rod at a point between the two Hats 15 but adjacent one of the flats, and member 12 is attached to the full-round terminal 10 of the rod. in the pressing operation, itis practically impossible to form Square eut shoulders at the junction of the rounds and flats, it follow ing that there are inclined faces 24 where the Hats and rounds merge. Now bends or formations 21, 23 extend toward one another or inwardly a suliicient distance to bring bearing faces 19 and 20 into positions underlying the fully flattenedy portions of the rod so, withzthese faces bearing on vor engaging the Side vsurfaces of the boards, it is assured that the abutting ledges of said-boards will seat fully on the iiats rather than seat partially on -the inclined faces;y Extensions or termi nalsf23are of such length that 'they overlie flat 15 throughout the extentv ol resilient movement of member 13, that is, up to the point to which said terminals would be sp read fionrmember .12 when a. board oi maximum thickness for a given standard tie is used. lt is thus assured that irrespective of the thickness of the board, within the' staiulard range, said board will fit fully and firmly on the flat, rather than engaging at its corners on incl incr; 24 to leave a gap between the center of the fiat and the center of the board edge.

' lit will be seenthat when concrete has been poured between the form boards, by far the major portions of members 13 are buried within the concrete mass, and that after the boards have been stripped and flat 15 has been severed flush with the outer face of the linished concrete wall, the onl)7 ex; )osed portions ofthe tie. will be the severed end of fiat 15 and the very small engaging faces 20, this bein an obvious advantage and being yone which is gained in spite of the fact that the tie has been able to function as eliiciently as tlmugh it were in full facial engagement with form boards B and B.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a variational type of tie having the generalcharacteristics of that shown in Fig. 1 and such elements as are the same as those described above will be given 'the same reference numerals. The major distinction of the form shown in Fig. 3 over that shown in FigI 1 is that the formations or transversely extending terminals 23 of members'13 are reverselybent'as at25, thus giv lll-5 ing a smooth `rounded board bearing face 20a, inrplace of the relatively sharp bearingtZO. lVhereas in- F-ig. 1,1the straight terminals 23 provide both the board bearing faces andthe guide faces for the iaringzmouths 'otehannels 14, in thefvariationalform the reverse bends 25 l provide the guide lataces definingV the flaring mouths 17. i 1t willbeseenthat the relatively resilient member 13 is adaptedt'o function exactly as element 13,.andthattheotsetting of bearing faces 20 andtheir overlying characteristicswith regard-to fiat 15 are the same as described in` connection with corresponding ,parts in Fig'. 1.

-It will be understood the drawings and description are to be considered merely as-illustrative of and not restrictive on the broader claims v,appended hereto, .for various changes in design, structure and arrangements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ot' said claims.

I claim: v f t 1. A device of the c-hziracter described, embodying a tension rod. adapted to extend across a concrete'form and .having a portion adapted to pass ,between adjacent edges of abutting form boards, said portion being thinner than the body otthe rod and delining the bott-om ol a board-takin channel, aboard engaging head .formation embodying two members in .planes at substantially right angles Vto the rodand located Aon the rod near the opposite ends of said portion, the members defining between them the sides ot said channel, and a formation one one ol said members forn'iing a daring mouth for said channel; a portion ot said lastamintioned formation being' spaced from but normally overlying saidf thinner portion.y

2. A device of the characterdescribed, embodying a tension rod adapted to extend across a conc-rete form and' having' a portion adapted to pass between adjacent edges of abutting `'form boards, said portion being thinner than the body ott-lie rod and detin ing the bottom ot' a board-taking channel, a board engaging head formation-embodying two members in planes at substantially right angles to the rod and locatedon `the rod near the opposite ends of said portion` thev meinbers defining between-them the sidesof ysaid channel, and formations on said members forming a flaring mouth't'or saidchannel; portionsio't each ot said last-mentioned'for mations being spaced from but normally overlying said thinner part. f

3. A deviceot' the character described',1em bodyinga tension rod adapted to extend across a concrete form-and havingr a portion adaptedto pass between adjacent edges of abutting form boards. saidf portionl being thinner than the body of the rod and defining' the bottom of a board-taking channel, a board engaging` head formation` embodying two mem erst-in yplanes at substantiallyfright igveogeex angles to 'the rod fand located lon theiro'dme'ar the oppositef endsof said portion, the memi bers deing'ibetnvee'n'ftheml the sides .ot said channel, and ax bend; in one of said: members which `p ioj ect's towards the othen 'member and forms a flaring" mouth vfor the=channel, the part of' the ,bendr neares'ti said other member bein gA spaced fromI but -normallyfloverlymg said portion. i of# iv 1 .4. Aclevice otthe character described, embodying `atensionz:midradapted :tol extend across aI concrete form and ahaving'ai portion adapted to pass between adjacent edgesnof abutting form boards aridi .defining the vbottom of a:boardstalringchannelpa boardengaging-head- -formation embodyingrv two mem bers inplanes at substantially fright angles to the rod and located'on the rod nearxthe'opposite ends l of said portion, the 'members defining bet-iveen:them=the sidesfof the board-tali# ing channel, andfazforrnation on one yof said members s forming aflaring i mouth: for isaid channel, said ones :member: Ebeing resiliently movableat leastin part-towarylthelextent of opening'ozfsaidinoutlniz 5. -AL device'of the:character-described; embodying f as yt'ensioni rod *adaptedy f Etol extend across a .'coner'eterformandi having-intermedia te its zendsi. apart thinner tlian-the body. of the rodand: adapted Lto ypassbetwe'enladj aeent edges ofi abutting Iform boards,'al board fen# gaging' head-formation: embodying two mein bers inplanes.;atfsubstantially right angles to the rodfone ofisaid membersbeingattiiied to the rod at one) side of saidfthinnernpart and beingresiliently movable towards and away `from the othermemberv=at-a point spaced from its -pointot attachment to the rod. and a formation on; said -one-member spaced Jfrom but normally overlying saidythinnerlparrt throughout resilient movement ofI saidA one member. .i i -V (i. A device of the character described, em; bodyingwal tensioni rod adapted-to extend acrossI -a conc-rete -form 'and having. intermediate yitsends a; partthinner than the body ofy tlie rod and' adapted to passI between adjacent/e dgese of abutting fform boards. aaboard engaging 1 head formation? embodying two members in planes at substantially rightangies to the rodysaidmembers beingeatlixed to ther rod at 'opposite sidesf o't'f'saidi thinner part, and formations 'on lsaidlmembers spaced from but normally overlying said thinner part; one of said members being resiliently movable; towandsand! away-from the other member at a .point spaced from. ,its .point of attachmenttothefro'd y V- .f 7:1 A-device of theieharacter ydeseribed,em bodyingaA tension rod adapted-r to extend across a concrete form and having a 'portion "UNE E,

` adaptednto! `passbetvveerr adj acentyedges of abutting'- forml boards, aboard engaging head formation; embodying; two-members in planes at. substantially: right anglesrto; the-nodi and lUz'S llU located on the rod near the opposite sides of said portion, one of said members embodying a body portion affixed to the rod, and a formation extending transversely from the body portion of said one member toward the other member and presenting toward said other member a board bearing face transversely oitset from the body portion of said one meinber; said one member being resiliently movable toward and away from the other inembei'.

8. A device of the character described, embodying a tension rod adapted to extend across a concrete form and having a portion adapted to pass between adjacent edges of abutting forni boards, said portion defining the bottom ot' a board-taking channel, a board engaging head formation embodying two members in planes at substantially right angles to the rod and located on the ro'd near the opposite ends of said portion, the members defining between them the sides of said channel, and a formation on one of said members forming a flaring mouth for said channel; a portion of said last-mentioned formation the bottom of a board-taking channel, a boardengaging head formation embodying two members 1n planes at substantially right an- -gles to the rod and located on the rod near the opposite ends ot said portion, the 1nein bers defining between them the sides of said channel, and a bend in one of said members which projects towards the other member and forms a flaring mouth -for the channel, the part of the bend nearest said other member being spaced from but normally overlying said portion ol the tension rod.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this lst day of November, 1927.

DAVID BAKER SMITH, 

